“There’s something for everyone . . . from crowd-pleasing Zucchini Pancakes to elegant Risotto Rosso. And isn’t it heartwarming that something as ephemeral as a blog, about something as transient as food, might be just good enough to make it to your permanent bookshelf? Take a bow, home cooks.” (NPR)

One of 2011’s Best Cookbooks (NPR)

One of the Top 10 Cookbooks of 2011: “A testament to crowd-sourcing, to accomplished cooks who don’t necessarily blog, and to Food52.com’s smart curating.” (Washington Post)

The Best Cooks Are Home Cooks

Accomplished food writers and editors Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs had a mission: to discover and celebrate the best home cooks in the country. Each week for fifty-two weeks, they ran recipe contests on their website, Food52.com, and the 140 winning recipes make up this book. They include:

• Double Chocolate Espresso Cookies
• Secret Ingredient Beef Stew
• Simple Summer Peach Cake
• Wishbone Roast Chicken with Herb Butter

These recipes prove the truth that great home cooking doesn’t have to be complicated or precious to be memorable. This book captures the community spirit that has made Food52 a success. It features Amanda’s and Merrill’s thoughts and tips on every recipe, plus behind-the-scenes photos, reader comments, and portraits of the contributors—putting you right in the kitchen with America’s most talented cooks.

A food reporter and columnist for the New York Times since 1997, Amanda Hesser is the author of the award-winning cookbook The Cook and the Gardener, as well as Cooking for Mr. Latte and Eat, Memory. She is also the author of The Essential New York Times Cookbook. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and their twin son and daughter. Merrill Stubbs is a graduate of Brown University and Le Cordon Bleu in London. She is the food editor at Herb Quarterly and has written for the Times’ T Living, Edible Brooklyn, Body and Soul, and Culinate.com. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.